Exercise devices are used all over the world. Individuals use exercise devices to relieve stress, improve their health and increase their fitness level. Many exercise devices are used when an individual's schedule or inclement weather prohibits the individual from exercising outdoors. Additionally, some exercise devices, such as treadmills, are used to train for competitions. For instance, distance runners often use treadmills to train for upcoming races. Such training allows the individual to conveniently monitor various aspects of their performance (e.g., pace, speed, distance, time, resistance, etc.) during their training session as many treadmills track and display such information. Additionally, treadmills with adjustably inclining treadbases can also simulate the terrain the user will experience during the upcoming race. As a result, individuals do not have to train at the actual location of an upcoming race to be familiar with the race course.
Treadmills and other exercise devices are typically controlled using various different buttons. The buttons may include up and down buttons for speed to increase or decrease the speed of the device, up and down buttons for incline to increase or decrease the incline of the device, directional buttons to select between predefined workouts, between metric and imperial measurements, on/off buttons and others (potentially for controlling other aspects of the exercise device, or even integrated devices such as music players or televisions). Speed and incline buttons are typically designed to increase or decrease speed or incline in predefined increments (e.g. 0.1 mph or 0.1 degrees). Pushing and holding these buttons increments the speed or incline at the same predefined increment, albeit at a higher rate.
In some cases, these control buttons are provided on a touchscreen. For instance, U.S. Patent Publication No. 2009/0216138 discloses a touchscreen that includes a distribution of virtual control buttons that allow the user to control the exercise device. The touchscreen also displays other pertinent workout data such as time, distance, speed, heart rate and other data. Similarly, U.S. Patent Publication 2012/0071301 specifically discloses an adjustable inclining and declining exercise bicycle that can be controlled using a touchscreen interface. Other touchscreen exercise device controllers that allow for the adjustment of exercise device operational parameters are disclosed in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2007/0298935, U.S. Patent Publication No. 2010/0222178, U.S. Patent Publication No. 2007/0225119, U.S. Patent Publication No. 2007/0038137, and U.S. Patent Publication No. 2010/0289772.